Welcome to BuzzFeed Veepstakes, your daily guide to Mitt Romney's search for a running mate. Romney's in London, the Olympics start tomorrow, and we're trying to figure out who will be standing next to him in November.

The veep contenders are out and about today, with Governors Bobby Jindal and Bob McDonnell campaigning in Iowa, and Senator John Thune in Virginia.

"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush thinks Sen. Marco Rubio is ready to be vice president and he shared those thoughts with presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, he said Wednesday."

"Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Wednesday introduced a bill aimed at ending the threat of a government shutdown once and for all. The bill would automatically extend government spending at current levels for 120 days when funding expires. If Congress continues to fail to act, spending would be cut by 1 percent across the board every 90 days."

"Democrats have made no secret of how they would skewer Ohio Sen. Rob Portman if Mitt Romney puts him on the ticket: by tying the former White House budget guru to former President George W. Bush and his controversial economic policies."

"Today, Mitt Romney is heading out for a foreign trip that includes stops in London for the Olympics, Israel and Poland. But an interesting tidbit from closer to home emerged Tuesday: Beth Myers, who is spearheading Romney’s search for a veep pick, name-dropped Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in a conversation with Old Dominion voters."

Those are just a few of the headliners of Mitt Romney’s summer surrogate tour, a whirlwind blitz that begins Thursday and will feature the presumptive nominee’s most prominent supporters hitting swing states throughout the country while he is overseas."

"MERRIMACK – U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte will return home to the Nashua area next week, and this time, she’ll be bringing an old friend along. Ayotte, a Nashua native, is set to visit BAE Systems in Merrimack Tuesday with U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who made New Hampshire a centerpiece of his presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2008."

Excerpts from "China by Kayak," by Robert Portman and Dan Reicher. The essay appeared in First Descents: In Search of Wild Rivers.

News of our exploits seemed to have traveled as swiftly as the Yangtze...

...A nearly full moon lighted the rocky path down to the river. We assembled the boat in record time, spurred on by the mumblings in an adjacent houseboat, which we knew would soon produce curious onlookers. Still adjusting our spray cover and our lifejackets, we pushed off into the dark, swirling waters, uncertain of what we would find.